Pictured: The beautiful farm girl who inspired Thomas Hardy to write Tess of the D'urbervilles | Daily Mail Online comments The TV adaptation of Thomas Hardy's romantic saga Tess of the D'urbervilles is topping the ratings. And now a photograph of the the real-life inspiration for the central character is published for the first time. Augusta Way was 'Tess Durbeyfield' of the novel. In the book, Tess was the eldest daughter in a poor, rural working family - a fresh, pretty country girl with a good heart and a sensitive soul. The middle-aged woman pictured below with her husband, was just 18 when Hardy spotted her milking a cow on a Wessex farm. Historic character: Augusta Way with her husband Arthur Bugler. Years before this picture was taken, Augusta helped inspire Thomas Hardy to pen Tess of the D'urbervilles when she was spotted milking a cow on a Wessex farm He was so attracted to the beautiful teenager that he had her in mind three years later when he wrote his famous novel in 1891. The full title was Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented.

A four-part BBC adaptation starring Gemma Arterton as Tess started last night. In another photo, Augusta is seen with her daughter Gertrude who was later chosen by Hardy to play Tess in a stage show 33 years after he wrote the book. He selected her for the lead role in the production by the Hardy Players because she looked so much like her mother, who had inspired the character. Her younger sister Norrie Woodhall, now 102, who has found the pictures, said Hardy described Gertrude as 'the impersonator of Tess'. Enlarge Happy family: Augusta, second right, at a picnic with her husband Albert and their daughters Norrie, left, and Gertrude. The daughters went on to star for the Thomas Hardy players, with Gertrude taking the lead as Tess in the play of the book because she looked like her mother She said that the literary great wanted her to go on stage in London with him, but Hardy's wife Florence put an end to Gertrude's acting career due to jealousy. She said: 'Thomas Hardy told us that he used to walk past our mother each day when she was milking. 'She was a beautiful woman.

He said himself that the memory must have entered his mind when he was creating the character of Tess. 'So when we did the play years later he cast Gertrude in the role. 'She must have been, for him, a reincarnation of the real Tess in our production. 'Gertrude was very good and wanted to be an actress but Florence put a stop to that.' Hardy first spotted Augusta Way in 1888 when she was just 18. The author, who was 48 at the time, regularly walked past her grandfather's dairy farm on his way to the Kingston Maurward estate near Dorchester, Dorset. Star turn: Actress Gemma Arterton who plays Tess in the BBC 1 adaptation of Tess of the D'urbervilles which started last night. The four-part dramatisation has already attracted millions of viewers Inspired: Author Thomas Hardy who wrote Tess of the D'urbervilles in 1891 Then in 1891 he used his memory of Augusta milking cows when writing Tess.

Norrie, who is a member of the Hardy Players today, said: 'Hardy used to walk to Kingston Maurward as the lady who lived there thought he was clever and gave him great encouragement. 'On his way he would walk past a grey manor house where my mother Augusta and three other families lived. 'My grandfather ran a dairy there and my mother and her sisters would sit outside and milk the cows. 'It was before my mother married when she was about 18 years old. She was very beautiful and must have caught his eye. 'I do not believe Hardy ever spoke to my mother though as he was a very shy person. He would never have made advances.' Augusta married Arthur Bugler soon after and went on to have daughters Eileen, Gertrude, Norrie and a son also called Arthur. Norrie and Gertrude joined the local Hardy Players as teenagers and were directed by Hardy himself. Widow Norrie, whose full name is Augusta Noreen, said: 'My mother gave me her name but I didn't look like her and never grew as tall. 'But Gertrude and my mother were very much alike - Gertrude was beautiful like her.

'When I was a teenager my sister and I were in the Hardy Players and Thomas Hardy would direct us. Survivor: Norrie Bugler pictured in the 1920s and today, aged 102. She lost out on the part of Tess because she never looked like her mother and failed to grow to the same height. Gertrude was picked out by Hardy 'In 1924, we did a production of Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Thomas Hardy cast Gertrude as Tess. He made it a condition that she play the lead role. 'I was very shy so was given a smaller part of her sister Liza-Lu. 'Gertrude was a great success in the play and Thomas Hardy sat in the audience and enjoyed it no end. 'Hardy would call her 'the impersonator of Tess'.' Norrie said her sister was so good playing Tess that Hardy asked her to continue with the role when it moved to London. But she said his wife Florence forced her to turn down the part. Norrie said: 'Gertrude became the absolute lead - the London people were noticing and coming down.

'Florence never liked the Hardy Players and she was insanely jealous of Gertrude. 'She kept on at her until she wrote a letter of refusal to Thomas Hardy which really she didn't want to do. Thespian dreams: Thomas Hardy players in 1918. Gertrude is centre, Norrie front right 'Shortly after, Florence disbanded the players. She was a very deceitful woman and Hardy died not knowing the truth.' Norrie believes that if it was not for Florence, her's and Gertrude's lives could have been very different. She added: 'Recently I saw a letter in the Dorchester Museum in which Hardy suggested I should go with Gertrude to London. 'He said I should accompany her as London is a very lonely place. 'I also liked acting and believe that if it was not for Florence, my life would have been different.' There is another claimant to the title of the woman who inspired Tess: Agatha Thornycroft, whom Hardy sat with at dinner in 1889. Some believe she was the visual model for the character. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Search eText, Read Online, Study, Discuss.

The Consequences of Uncompromising Virtue When people dear to us experience misfortune, we may offer them sympathy even as we might be thinking their misfortune was partly their own fault. The Tess novel is largely about a wonderful girl we may come to care a lot about who suffers great hardships. We're led to believe these misfortunes were all the fault of others. Hardy's brilliant writing contributes to the understanding that all of Tess' troubles are the result of bad luck, social injustice and a cruel fate. Tess' miseries and how she bears them seem to exalt her to sympathetic readers. But, what if Tess' choices made at least some of her hardships likely? Perhaps the most prominent of all Tess' qualities is her uncompromising virtue, a choice. All choices have consequences, including doing the honorable thing. Tess knew she risked everything in her wedding night confession, but she chose to do it because she preferred to risk her happiness and fulfillment rather than compromise her sense of honor. Her choice not only had devastating results for her, it also made Angel miserable. Most of us regardless of how honorable we imagine ourselves, temper our honesty an ethical behavior somewhat to assure our well-being.

We all tell white lies, partial truths rather than the whole truth and justify it all thinking if there's no real harm done there's no foul. Tess won't compromise her virtuous conduct to her well-being, and the result is her misery. She bears it so stoically it seems she takes her hardships as if they're due. But these hardships don't result from any compromise she's made with virtue. Rather, her hardships result from not compromising her virtue. One moral of this novel might be that to survive satisfactorily in her world (and ours) requires some balance between virtue and personal well-being. Perhaps Tess would have done better to move a little towards Joan's example. Both she and Angel might've been happier for the difference. Posted By Maple at Thu 20 Feb 2014, 7:48 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 2 Replies Do We Condemn Joan? When it comes to Tess' villains, the usual candidates are Alec, Angel and Joan. Alec the obvious melodramatic villain. Angel doesn't intend to be cruel to Tess, but he makes her more miserable than anyone.

And then there's Joan who sets up Alec to ruin Tess partly to bring some money into the Derbyfield household. It's easy to condemn each, but Hardy provides enough character development to invite our empathy. Each villain had his or her reasons. Joan and Tess as young women were much alike in full bodied sexual appeal. Also, both were born into a low social rung with little opportunity to advance. But, with some luck and willingness both could advance using their sexual appeal to bond with men of higher rank. Joan took this route, but Tess wouldn't consider such a scheme. Parents often don't understand their children and in that difference parents tend to assume parents know best. Moreover, parents tend to assume responsibility to bend their child's thinking to their, not out of malice but in genuine conviction it's their responsibility. Joan was convinced Tess had a great opportunity to bond with the wealthy Alec, not just for the sake of the Derbyfield household but for Tess' benefit, also. By Joan's standards the plan blossomed. However, by Tess' thinking, incomprehensible to Joan, life with Alec was intolerable. That Joan set Tess up for her ruin was villainous, but not all villainous acts merit condemnation.

The underlying reason for Joan's villainy, her not understanding Tess and assuming she knew best, is common to all parents. Most of us can't condemn Joan unless we're willing to condemn ourselves. Posted By Maple at Thu 20 Feb 2014, 6:44 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 0 Replies A "Grotesque Prestidigitation" One of Angel's responses to Tess' wedding night confession was that there had been a "grotesque prestidigitation." The implication was that he'd been duped into marriage by Tess’ clever deception. In the fire lit room in a mansion with just the two of them it's initially puzzling that Angel would use the word prestidigitation, which Tess surely didn't know, instead of words expressing the same meaning she would have understood. The answer may be telling. In his phrase "grotesque prestidigitation" he's really not talking to Tess but to himself or some imagined body in his mind.

Being a conformist to his society's standards and now in a situation where he finds his wife, marriage and plans suddenly at odds with society's approval, he's desperate to exonerate himself and remove himself from the "intolerable" situation. It's as though he's saying, "I've been scammed. I’m a victim. Don’t blame me, it’s her fault." From this moment through most of his time in Brazil, he continues in this attitude. After months in Brazil he briefly comes across another Brit to whom Angel discloses his troubles at home. The fellow responds that Angel's made too much of Tess' blemishes and that others in similar situations have accepted, understood and had happy marriages. In a fairly short time Angel reforms his thoughts and returns to Tess as soon as he’s able. While many suggest Angel's mind has been broadened, more likely the stranger simply convinced him society's judgment on Tess wasn't as harsh as he had thought. Angel isn't more broadminded, society is. What the story reveals is that Angel puts society's judgment ahead of his own, if he has any.

What's essential to Angel is society's judgment he's a respectable man, and to keep that reputation he's willing to sacrifice his marriage and even Tess. Whatever Angel does, in his mind society's jury is constantly judging him. Where Tess sets nothing above her love for Angel, Angel sets nothing above conforming to society's judgment. He'll be the same with Liza-Lu and all the others in his life. Posted By Maple at Mon 3 Feb 2014, 10:32 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 1 Reply Who was Tess, really? Hardy may have crafted the Tess character to make a statement about unjust social standards in his time, but he made the character so appealing many readers might feel the novel was really about her. Upon the novel's ending, readers might well wonder who Tess really was, what was her reality, her meaning in her time and her meaning to contemporary readers. On the one hand Tess wants to be known as just Tess, a young woman of the impoverished Wessex laboring class. On the other hand she can seem to be something closer to an earth goddess such as Artemis or Demeter.

Following the heart wrenching final chapter in which she's executed, it might seem to some readers that her death left a spiritual emptiness in her society no one else could fill. Either she was a spiritual essence or she symbolized one. I hope Tess readers will offer their thoughts here. Posted By Maple at Tue 27 Aug 2013, 3:33 AM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 15 Replies Why did Tess kill Alec? Tess' killing of Alec is perhaps the most puzzling part of the novel. Readers can't help but think that if Tess had simply walked away from Alec and could've lived long and happily with Angel. If Tess felt Alec would be a continuing danger to her marriage, she surely knew that killing Alec meant her marriage would only last a few days and her life would end in about a month. Professor James Heffernan, an English literature scholar, thinks he has the answer. He says that Alec had taken possession of Tess' soul and finding the need to break that possession, Tess believed nothing short of killing him would work. Heffernan's answer is put forward here to generate comments.

Do you agree with Heffernan that at the time of her cohabitation with Alec he possessed Tess' soul? If you disagree, do you think Tess' soul was still her own and was it likely to remain so? I have my own opinion to share if we can get some interest on this thread. Posted By Maple at Sun 28 Jul 2013, 5:37 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 7 Replies Chapters 57-8: A new interpretation As we all know, near the novel's end Tess kills Alec, reunites with Angel, the two live in a room at a vacant mansion (Bramshurst Court), and part at Stonehenge. In these few days Tess believes she's experienced the bliss for which she longs. A new interpretation of Chapters 57-8 seems reasonable and is suggested. In this interpretation, after rejecting Angel and killing Alec, Tess remains in her lodging a relatively short time before being captured there by police. The intervening events Hardy described were all a dream state fantasy in which Tess only imagines her happiness.

Supporting this interpretation is that during this imagined episode, Tess seems to have no purpose other than to be with Angel in the moment, avoiding thoughts of the past, the future and exterior world. At Bramshurst she keeps to a darkened bedroom. Hardy is describing an essentially spiritual existence in which there's only she and Angel expressing their mutual love. What Hardy describes is perfect fulfillment without clutter, but as we know realistic fulfillment comes imperfectly and not entirely as we imagine. Tess' happy moments, entirely imagined in my view, can't have a future because she's certain that when Angel objectively takes stock of her he'll despise and reject her again. She's now not only a woman with a blemished premarital past but an adulteress, a virtual prostitute and a murderer. Angel might be more enlightened than earlier, but Tess is justified in thinking Angel can't accept her now. In reality she can't chase after Angel because as much as she longs to be with him, his rejection of her would be unendurable. By Tess relying on her fantasy of fulfillment rather than attempting the impossible real one, a reader's appreciation of her terrible misery is deepened and intensified.

In believing her fantasy was real, Tess reveals to us how emotionally withered and damaged she's become. She reminds us of the fatally wounded pheasants whose agonies she mercifully ended by breaking their necks. Tess gladly anticipates the same from her hangman. Posted By Maple at Mon 17 Jun 2013, 1:29 AM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 2 Replies Liza-Lu: Another Cycle in Misery? Except for the last few lines of the Tess novel, we might summarize the whole story as a description, with some theatrical license, of the terrible life and fate of Wessex laboring women. They live in bare subsistence vulnerable and dependent upon the wealthy who often use them like momentary disposables. Life begins with hope and ends in misery both for themselves and those dearest to them. But, in the last few sentences we have Liza-Lu paired with Angel. A new cycle of womanhood is about to begin either to resemble Tess' miseries or, something happier. Hardy is leading us to wonder if and why Liza-Lu's life might be different than Tess'.

A marriage between Angel and Liza-Lu might be happy firstly because Liza-Lu is much like Tess at 17 but without Tess blemishes imparted by Joan and Alec. Secondly, but equally important, is that Angel has ethically evolved since his appearance at Talbothays. Thirdly if these two marry, it'll be a marriage likely based in friendship rather than passionate delusion. More than describing the awful fate of Wessex working class women, Hardy's pointing us towards something better and offering us reasons for optimism. His key messages might include (1) don't base a marriage decision on passion, (2) don't be obedient to societal standards that're unjust and hypocritical, and (3) find meaning in life beyond your own skin. She might have had an unsuccessful life in terms of personal happiness, but in bringing greater happiness and hope to those dearest to her she lived the good life beyond her own skin, which to Hardy is a measure of the successful life.

Posted By Maple at Sun 12 May 2013, 5:55 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 0 Replies The Philosophical Parameter Some Hardy scholars write that a major parameter of Tess and Hardy's others writings is his philosophical thinking. It's a little hard for us in the twenty-first century to grasp much of this because while philosophy was of much interest a hundred and more years ago, it's not to us now. Obviously, to gather the most complete understanding of Tess requires us to understand Hardy's thinking. Without suggesting I'm any kind of authority in this subject, my understanding is that Hardy and many serious intellectuals on his time believed that as society was evolving, man's character was evolving in step. There was a belief that this evolution progressed through phases that were termed religious, metaphysical and sociological. In the sociological, the highest level, people were more in charge of their own fate.

Hardy believed, as did Leslie Steven, the philosopher who influenced him most, that within the sociological phase a person should strive for values of "loving-kindness" or "altruism." The idea was for man to put less importance on himself and his own happiness and more into attempts at well-meaning toward others. In this aim, the link we now accept between living a good life and happiness is disconnected. A good (i.e. altruistic) life is one that might be unhappy. In this belief, a variant of the better known Utilitarianism, the altruistic man would see himself as part of all other beings and less an independent social unit for pursuit of his individual happiness with relative indifference to others. Regardless of whether we today accept any of this thinking, it does help understand Hardy's characters, particularly his principle characters such as Tess. What may seem unwise behavior in Tess makes more sense if her personal happiness wasn't intended to be her foremost goal. If we can understand her as a person who evolved striving to benefit the lives of those in her world without determined focus on her own happiness, her behavior makes more sense.

In the final phase of the novel, Hardy terms it "fulfillment", which seems strange since she's lost her last chance for happiness and her future. Hardy, however, sees her self-sacrifice and final arrangements for Angle, Liza-Lu and, indirectly, her family as an altruistic fulfillment--a phase in which she's used her life to do all the good for others she possibly can. (Some of us might feel Alec got the short end of her benevolence). Whether or not any of us find this supposed philosophical parameter of the novel credible, it does seem reasonable that understanding the novel requires more an understanding of what Hardy intended, a product of the thinking of his time, and perhaps less emphasis on the thinking of the twenty-first century, from which we modern readers are a product. Hardy, after all, would probably find it as taxing to understand us and our times and we do him and his times. Posted By Maple at Mon 19 Nov 2012, 5:25 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 1 Reply Tess's Choices Some Tess readers say Tess made bad choices. What do you think were the choices she made and which do you think were poor ones?

My view is that the only choice Tess made in the novel was her murder of Alec, which was probably made in the moment but done deliberately and was premeditatedly. All the other choices she made were choices of necessity. Probably her fatal flaw was to love Angel, but in my view who we love isn't a matter of choice. Once in love I'd argue most of us are not responsible for our actions. Boldwood in Far from the Madding Crowd would probably agree. Posted By Maple at Sun 4 Nov 2012, 2:08 AM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 8 Replies Alternative ending for Tess What would have happened if Tess's bad luck had changed at Wintoncester? It seems quite likely she would have received a reprieve and possibly even a parole after a number of years (see here) No doubt Angel would have hired a good lawyer to defend her case. Would he have stuck by her though, or would he have divorced her while she was in prison? He would not know how long she would be in jail, and he had the grounds for divorce. Surely he would not divorce Tess and then marry her sister (especially as marrying a sisten-in-law was illegal).

I read in the library that Thomas Hardy said that Angel would eventually have started taunting Tess for her second fall if she had lived. Posted By kev67 at Fri 29 Jun 2012, 1:08 PM in Tess of the d'Urbervilles || 6 Replies SparkNotes: Tess of the d’Urbervilles: Key Facts Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy full title · Tess of the d’Urbervilles author · Thomas Hardy time and place written · 1880s, England date of first publication · 1891 publisher · Random House, but also published serially in different periodicals narrator · Anonymous point of view · The narrator speaks in the third person, and looks deep into the characters’ minds. The narrator is objective but has an omniscient understanding of future implications of characters’ actions as they happen.

tone · Realistic, pessimistic setting (time) · The 1880s and 1890s setting (place) · Wessex, the southwest of England protagonist · Tess Durbeyfield major conflict · Tess is seduced, impregnated, and abandoned by the son of her upper-class patroness, making her unacceptable to her true love Angel later in life. rising action · Tess’s family’s discovery that they are ancient English aristocracy, giving them all fantasies of a higher station in life; Tess’s accidental killing of the family horse, which drives her to seek help from the d’Urbervilles, where she is seduced and dishonored. climax · Tess’s new husband discovers her earlier seduction by Alec and decides to leave her, going off to Brazil and not answering her letters, and bringing Tess to despair.

falling action · Tess’s last-ditch decision to marry Alec, who claims to love her; Angel’s return from Brazil to discover Tess marriage to her former seducer, and his meeting with Tess; Tess’s murder of Alec and short-lived escape with Angel before being apprehended and executed themes · The injustice of existence; changing ideas of social class in Victorian England; men dominating women motifs · Birds; the Book of Genesis; variant names symbols · Prince; the d’Urberville family vault; Brazil foreshadowing · Tess’s killing of the pheasants foreshadows her own death by hanging; Alec’s assertion that he will “master” Tess again foreshadows his reemergence in her life More Help Tess of the D'Urbervilles : Thomas Hardy : 9781861711571 Tess of the D'Urbervilles Edited by Margaret Elvy , By (author) Thomas Hardy Share We can notify you when this item is back in stock Notify me Try AbeBooks Description TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES A new edition of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, with an introduction and notes by Margaret

 Elvy.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a novel of anger, a text which rages against time, God, industrialization, and social institutions such as marriage, Chrisianity, the Church, law and education. What does Tess Durbeyfield do that is 'wrong'? Thomas Hardy explains in the book: '[s]he had been made to break an accepted social law, but no law known to the environment in which she fancied herself such an anomaly.' Tess of the d'Urbervilles was produced for the Graphic maagzine, in weekly instalments in 1891. The novel underwent a number of changes, from its appearance in Graphic, to the 'episodic sketches' in Fortnightly Review and the National Observer, to the editions of 1891, 1892, 1895, 1902 and 1912. At the stage of the one-volume edition of Tess, Thomas Hardy was still changing plot and character; it was not a finished text, as most of Hardy's other books were by this stage. The serialization demanded plot development in each installment, as in weekly TV soap operas.

The serial Graphic Tess of the d'Ubervilles contained more sensational elements than the novel; or, more correctly, Hardy put in some of the more lurid scenes to spice up the installments, and left them in the novel in the first edition and in following editions. In the Life, his autobiography, Hardy relates how the serial of Tess of the d'Urbervilles was rejected by Murray's Magazine and Macmillan's Magazine; so, before sending it to the third editor, of the Graphic Magazine, Hardy edited it. He took out the offending chapters, planning to publish them separately, and corrected the text. Hardy 'carried out this unceremonious concession to conventionality with cynical amusement, ' he says in the Life, 'knowing the novel was moral enough and to spare.' As he notes, the work was drudgery, and it might have been easier for him to have written a new story.

show more Product details 152 x 224 x 12mm | 222.26g Publication date Classics corner: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy | Books | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close In the years after the 1891 publication of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy acknowledged that he had written the book 'with too much feeling to recall it with pleasure'. If writing the book was an affecting experience, reading it proves equally so. The character of Tess, a girl-woman betrayed by the callousness of religion, by social convention and by the men who exploit her, is so lushly drawn, so sympathetically conveyed, that it is almost impossible not to feel crushed by the unfairness of life as she experiences it. Tess starts out as an emblem of innocence, a pretty country girl who delights in dancing on the village green. Yet the world conspires against her. Seduced by a duplicitous older man, her virtue is destroyed when she bears his child and her future life is shaped by a continual suffering for crimes that are not her own.

Cast out by a morally hypocritical society, Tess identifies most strongly with the natural world and it is here that Hardy's textual lyricism comes into its own. His heroine's physical attributes are described with organic metaphors - her arm, covered in curds from the milking, is 'as cold and damp ... as a new-gathered mushroom'. At the height of Tess's love affair with the parson's son, Angel Clare, Hardy describes a summer of 'oozing fatness and warm ferments'. When she is separated from him, Tess is depicted digging out swedes in a rain-drenched, colourless field, working until 'the leaden light diminishes'. These evocative descriptions are underpinned by a gripping story of love, loss and tragedy. According to Hardy's biographer, Claire Tomalin, the book 'glows with the intensity of his imagination'. It is this that remains the key to its lasting power.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - Google Books Tess of the d'Urbervilles 2 Reviews �������� Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the d'Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy's "bestseller," and Tess Durbeyfield remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men--Alec d'Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving husband--Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act. ----"Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination," said Irving Howe. "In Tess he stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman's life, a girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine strength. . . .

Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting." ----Now Tess of the d'Urbervilles has been brought to television in a magnificent new co-production from A&E Network and London Weekend Television. Justine Waddell (Anna Karenina) stars as the tragic heroine, Tess; Oliver Milburn (Chandler & Co.) is Angel Clare; and Jason Flemyng is Alec d'Urberville. The cast also includes John McEnery (Black Beauty) as Jack Durbeyfield and Lesley Dunlop (The Elephant Man) as Joan Durbeyfield. Tess of the d'Urbervilles is directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Sarah Wilson, with a screenplay by Ted Whitehead; it was filmed in Hardy country, the beautiful English countryside in Dorset where Thomas Hardy set his novels. The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun- dation for their next publishing venture, Random House.

The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hardbound editions of important works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inaugurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices. Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy - Google Books Tess of the d'Urbervilles 1 Review Etched against the background of a dying rural society, Tess of the d'Urbervilles was Thomas Hardy's 'bestseller,' and Tess Durbeyfield remains his most striking and tragic heroine. Of all the characters he created, she meant the most to him. Hopelessly torn between two men—Alec d'Urberville, a wealthy, dissolute young man who seduces her in a lonely wood, and Angel Clare, her provincial, moralistic, and unforgiving husband—Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act.

'Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination,' said Irving Howe. 'In Tess he stakes everything on his sensuous apprehension of a young woman's life, a girl who is at once a simple milkmaid and an archetype of feminine strength. . . . Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting.' Now Tess of the d'Urbervilles has been brought to television in a magnificent new co-production from A&E Network and London Weekend Television. Justine Waddell (Anna Karenina) stars as the tragic heroine, Tess; Oliver Milburn (Chandler & Co.) is Angel Clare; and Jason Flemyng is Alec d'Urberville. The cast also includes John McEnery (Black Beauty) as Jack Durbeyfield and Lesley Dunlop (The Elephant Man) as Joan Durbeyfield. Tess of the d'Urbervilles is directed by Ian Sharp and produced by Sarah Wilson, with a screenplay by Ted Whitehead; it was filmed in Hardy country, the beautiful English countryside in Dorset where Thomas Hardy set his novels.

What people are saying - Write a review Good Quality Book User Review - fairdaloon - Overstock.com A very good read of a very sad tale. If only they had the internet cell phones and could get hold of each other they all wouldnt have suffered so much. Thank Goodness for such great communication now days. And Thank Goodness for Big machines to help us do much of the farm work!

Read full review Selected pages View all » Common terms and phrases afternoon Alec d’Urberville Angel Clare arms asked beauty began better Blackmoor Brazil breakfast can’t cheek church cottage cows Crick cried d’Urberville’s dairy dairyman dark dear didn’t door eyes face farm father father’s feel felt girl gone hand he’s head heard heart hedge horse hour husband I’ve Izz Huett Joan kiss knew lady lane leave light lips live Liza-Lu looked maids Marian Marlott marriage marry miles milk milkmaids mind morning mother mother’s murmured never night o’clock passed perhaps person poor pretty replied returned road round seemed SHELBY FOOTE side soon soul stood sure Talbothays tell Tess Durbeyfield Tess’s there’s thing THOMAS BULFINCH THOMAS HARDY thought told Trantridge turned Vale village voice waited walked waow Wessex what’s wife wish woman women won’t words wouldn’t young About the author (2000) Thomas Hardy was born on June 2, 1840, in a thatched-roof cottage in upper Bockhampton, Dorset, England, a prophetic birthplace that lay in the center of 'Wessex,' the fictional region of southwest England which would

 serve as the backdrop for his novels.

The eldest son of a prosperous builder and stonemason, Hardy was educated at the village school and apprenticed at the age of sixteen to local architect and church restorer John Hicks. In 1862 he went to London to pursue his architectural career; he also began writing at this time. Hardy returned to Dorset in 1867 to become assistant to John Hicks and wrote his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, of which only fragments remain. Although George Meredith, who was reader for Chapman & Hall publishers, advised against its publication, he encouraged Hardy to keep writing, preferably a story with a more complicated plot. Over the next several years he produced three more novels: Desperate Remedies (1871) and Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) were published anonymously, but A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) bore the author's name. In November 1872, Leslie Stephen, the distinguished critic and editor, wrote to Hardy inviting him to contribute a novel for serialization in the Cornhill Magazine, a prestigious monthly that had published the work of such established writers as Anthony Trollope.

Hardy accepted and in his letter to Stephen added that 'the chief characters would probably be a young woman-farmer, a shepherd, and a sergeant of cavalry.' He wrote Far from the Madding Crowd both in and out of doors at Bockhamptom as if possessed. 'Occasionally without a scrap of paper at the very moment when [I] felt volumes . . . [I] would use large dead leaves, white chips left by the woodcutters, or pieces of stone or slate that came to hand,' Hardy later recalled. Published anonymously in 1874, Far from the Madding Crowd sold out in just over two months and marked the turning point in Hardy's literary career. As Virginia Woolf later noted: 'The subject was right; the method was right; the poet and the countryman, the sensual man, the sombre reflective man, the man of learning, all enlisted to produce a book which, however fashions may chop and change, must hold its place among the great English novels.' The success of Far from the Madding Crowd in 1874 encouraged Hardy to abandon architecture and devote himself entirely to the craft of fiction.

His next novel, The Hand of Ethelberta (1876), also appeared in the Cornhill Magazine but did not repeat the success of its predecessor. In 1874 Hardy married Emma Lavinia Gifford, and the couple soon settled in an idyllic cottage overlooking the Dorset Stour, at Sturminster Newton, where Hardy wrote The Return of the Native (1878). In 1878 he moved to London. Although he became a well-known figure in literary circles and was considered a catch for hostesses, Hardy wrote three disappointing 'minor' novels during his years there: The Trumpet-Major (1880), A Laodicean (1881), and Two on a Tower (1882). This fallow period in his career seemed to lift in 1885 with his return to Dorset to live at Max Gate. Over the next three years he published The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), which many regard as his greatest tragic novel, The Woodlanders (1887), and his first collection of short stories, Wessex Tales (1888).

In 1891 Tess of the d'Urbervilles appeared, and in 1895 Hardy's final novel, Jude the Obscure, came out. The book sent shock waves of indignation rolling across Victorian England. It was denounced as pornography and subjected the author to an avalanche of abuse. Hardy's disgust at the public's reaction led him to announce in 1896 that he would never again write fiction. During the remaining years of his life, Hardy devoted himself to poetry, publishing his first book of verse, Wessex Poems, in 1898. A second collection, Poems of the Past and Present, appeared in 1901. Over the next five years Hardy wrote The Dynasts, an epic drama about the Napoleonic War. In 1912 he made a final revision of his novels for the authoritative Wessex Editions. Hardy's wife died suddenly the same year. In February 1914 he married his longtime secretary, Florence Emily Dugdale. Over the next decade Hardy continued to write poetry and to work on his autobiography, The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, which was supposedly authored by his second wife and published posthumously.

Thomas Hardy died in Dorset on January 11, 1928. His heart was buried in the Wessex countryside in the parish churchyard at Stinsford; his ashes were placed next to those of Charles Dickens in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. Bibliographic information Tess of the D'Urbervilles : Thomas Hardy : 9781407015569 Tess of the D'Urbervilles We can notify you when this item is back in stock Notify me Try AbeBooks Description THIS ORANGE INHERITANCE EDITION OF Tess of the D'Urbervilles IS PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION Books shape our lives and transform the way we see ourselves and each other. The best books are timeless and continue to be relevant generation after generation. Vintage Classics asked the winners of The Orange Prize for Fiction which books they would pass onto the next generation and why. Anne Michaels chose Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich 'relatives', the D'Urbervilles.

Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal. When she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret... 'Gloriously physical, full of passion and irony, humour and tenderness' Anne Michaels show more Product details Electronic book text | 496 pages Publication date Classics About Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 at Higher Bockhampton in Dorset. His father was a stonemason. Hardy attended school in Dorchester and then trained as an architect. In 1868 his work took him to St Juliot's church in Cornwall where he met his wife-to-be, Emma. His first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady, was rejected by publishers but Desperate Remedies was published in 1871 and this was rapidly followed by Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) and Far from the Madding Crowd (1874). He also wrote many other novels, poems and short stories.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles was published in 1891 and he published his final novel, Jude the Obscure, in 1895. Hardy was awarded the Order of Merit in 1910 and the gold medal of the Royal Society of Literature in 1912. Emma died in 1912 and Hardy married his second wife, Florence, in 1914. Thomas Hardy died on 11 January 1928. Anne Michaels' Poems, published in 2000, includes three collections of poetry: The Weight of Oranges, which won the Commonwealth Prize for the Americas; Miner's Pond, which won the Canadian Authors Association Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and the Trillium Award; and Skin Divers. Her first novel, Fugitive Pieces, was published in 1997 to worldwide critical acclaim. Fugitive Pieces won the Orange Prize and the Trillium Award among others, and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Canadian Booksellers Association Author of the Year Award. Anne Michaels has also composed music for the theatre.

The Winter Vault was published in 2009. Born in 1958, Anne Michaels lives in Toronto. show more Review quote "Thomas Hardy's thrilling story of seduction, murder, cruelty and betrayal" * The Times * "Like the greatest characters in literature, Tess lives beyond the final pages of the book as a permanent citizen of the imagination... Tess is that rare creature in literature: goodness made interesting" -- Irving Howe "Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles has a lush sensuality about the heat of summer and the heat of lust which makes the gorgeousness of Hardy's heroine and his country of Wessex both seems utterly desirable as the tale of tragic fate unfolds" * The Times * "Hardy never used his "country" and his Greek ambitions to better effect" -- Melvyn Bragg "Tess's beauty and the effect that it has on others gave me a sense of the destructive power of sex" -- Rufus Wainwright show more Back cover copy ORANGE INHERITANCE READS ARE PUBLISHED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ORANGE PRIZE FOR FICTION Books shape our lives and transform the way we see ourselves and each other.

The best books are timeless and continue to be relevant generation after generation. Vintage Classics asked the winners of The Orange Prize for Fiction which books they would pass onto the next generation and why. Anne Michaels chose Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Tess is an innocent young girl until the day she goes to visit her rich 'relatives', the D'Urbervilles. Her encounter with her manipulative cousin, Alec, leads her onto a path that is beset with suffering and betrayal. When she falls in love with another man, Angel Clare, Tess sees a potential escape from her past, but only if she can tell him her shameful secret... 'Gloriously physical, full of passion and irony, humour and tenderness' Anne Michaels See also: To the Lighthouse show more Follow us

Question: Who wrote the novel "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" in 1891?
Answer: Thomas Hardy